Review:
The Sunset Strip Diaries tells the history of Amy Asbury and her early teenage years growing up in a home where her father showed no love towards her and her drug addicted father abused her.She longed for a more 'glamorous' world and in Amy's mind, the result to her problems was to run to the one point she could be herself - Hollywood and the Sunset Strip.
Her school days were troubled and saw her family break down further.Amy spent more time planning her way out of the spirit she hated but landed herself in pain with the law and was locked up for a point in a mental institution.Eventually Amy hooked up with people who could make her approach to the clubs and social circles of her ideal world.She would determine ways of getting to clubs at weekends, scamming her way on and once she ground the multitude that she thought had the face or work to attain her goals she befriended them.
Quite quickly, her years of look at posters of bands on the walls of her bedway changed and soon Amy was in the same room as them and hanging out in their society at clubs like the Rainbow, Roxy, Gazzarri's and the Coconut Teaszer.It seemed like her mission had been achieved.Amy had arrived, now she was good at the center of where it was happening and she had hand picked the beautiful and democratic people to be about her.Inevitably though, once she became partly of the scene, problems started happening.Her band of friends and those she could hope with was never stable, she was an alcoholic at the age of 15 and that only compounded her problems attributing to her being sacked and abused on various occasions.Eventually those around her off to drugs and her tone of spirit was at an all time low.
You can build up your own head if you believe that Amy's dream of a break and more glamorous life was ever realized - but for me this was answered towards the end which, incidentally, left me wondering what happened to Amy afterwards?To my relief though, it seems there is already a second volume in progress although it's unclear if it will pluck up where this one left off.
Amy's story will invoke to a lot of Sleaze Roxx readers, I couldn't put this land as the bands I grew up with and still listen to have heavily in the bible and were Amy's close friends - so The Sunset Strip Diaries is an insight into a glance of their career's, seen from her place of view.If you bands like Alleycat Scratch, Glamour Punks, Tryx or Big Bang Babies then you'll no doubt enjoy this book, as they are incident to the storyline and there's enough of name dropping going on.The book spans the point from the first of late '80s and early '90s glam when bands like Hanoi Rocks, Poison, Motley Crue and Guns N' Roses were just start to go to the end of it all and the issue of the grunge scene.
If you're looking for a serious read into the tales andlifestyle of person who was break of the glam scene I urge you clean up The Sunset Strip Diaries and learn about something special and outrageous that we'll not see happen again.
sunsetstripdiaries.blogspot.com - sunsetstripdiaries.com
Reviewed by Grant W. for Sleaze Roxx, April 2011
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